March 24, 2016

... wish I'd gotten a photo of the fox that ran across the backyard the other day. Much easier to catch a turkey. That bird cheered me up as I was feeling a little dismal devoting this spring-break afternoon to doing our taxes.

Yesterday, I saw a wild turkey waltzing down the middle of our street, after work. It jumped onto the hood of my neighbor's big, Blue F-150, and took a dump. My kids were cracking up. My dog -- a rambunctious little Cocker Spaniel -- burst towards the turkey to catch him, but I thought better of it, and yanked him in the other direction. I figured the wild turkey woulda prevailed in any inter-species confrontation.

I couldn't find locally two seasons of an HBO series, so I availed myself of Amazon for the first time. Very easy to use and the order made it to my door in less than twenty hours from the time of order. I used the Althouse portal, too. Not looking for a Gold Star or anything like that, but am happy to contribute in some manner.

Yesterday I raided a local stream for some water plants to put in my fish tank. The old plants lasted about five months before they succumbed to what I think was mostly fish and snail nibbling. The new crop went from greenish-brown to Disney-green immediately. I probably unwittingly brought in another snail or two. That's OK; they all get along in that little 10-gallon ecosystem.

should keep my camera right ar hand by my computer. I am looking out onto the small backyard and is very cool when something happens out there.

What frustrates me is how long the digital cameras take to be ready to shoot, sometimes stuff happens too quick. The other day in Florida I saw a whooping crane (there's a non migratory population here), but only for a few second, another time a roseate spoonbill.

I am looking out onto the small backyard and is very cool when something happens out there.

My wife was working in the kitchen, and called out "Why is it snowing in the backyard?". I came into the kitchen, and it sure looked like snow. When we got to the window in the back door, then we could see up into the tree, and it was a falcon pulling the feathers from a sparrow.

I'll take your turkey. I'm sailing the Florida Keys and it is an unpleasant crowded zoo of American humanity at exorbitant prices. March is the most crowded month down here. Wayyyyy over-subscribed. My cool little hippie hide away from the late 60's and early 70's is long gone. I prefered it ram shackle and low rent. The days of my youth long gone now. Square grouper and guitars at sunset on the Docks of Duval are a certain piquant remembrance now...

The video from Brussels shows lots of law-enforcement folks wearing balaclavas. They look like terrorists thereby, but apparently that's the style in Belgium, where they wouldn't seem to know effective terrorism stoppage from a piece of duct tape. This looks like crap both inside and outside Europe.

I live less than a mile from the big buildings in downtown Minneapolis. We have deer walk down the streets, and there's a family of raccoons that promenade down our alley on the way to dinner at the wheelie bin. One likes to dine on my compost pile. The turkeys are everywhere except where there are Hmong households. Those folks don't let quality protein walk away.

A gal friend was upset that the wildlife has to deal with the stress and difficulties of urban life, as opposed to the rural utopia. I pointed out that as far as the animals knew, the city had always been here, and it was just as much a habitat as the countryside. And probably with less predators.